Bleher's biotopes: Rio Xingu, Brazil
World-renowned explorer Heiko Bleher recreated several biotopes to acclaim at an international show in Germany. In this issue, a biotope from Rio Xingú in the Amazon.
Copyright © Practical Fishkeeping
Rio Xingú is a tributary into the lower Rio Amazonas. With a length of more than 2100 km, it is the eighth-longest arm of the Amazon River. It is a clear water river, which the Brazilians refer to as água clara.
I am replicating a habitat from the open water below Victoria to Xingú, the transfer location to the upper Xingú.
Here, the riverbed comprises fine white sand and many small and medium-sized round stones.
The riverbanks are in part still densely covered by primary forest.
This area is home to a very diverse freshwater stingray fauna - the only other river with more freshwater stingrays is the Rio Verde.
There are virtually no water plants.
Rio Xingu, Brazil, 1660 l
Tank: Rio Xingú, Amazon, Brazil, 1600 l.
Fish: Two unidentified freshwater stingrays, Potamotrygon spp; ten small Peacock stingrays, P. motoro; Red hook myleus, Myleus rubripinnis; Black-barred myleus, M. schomburgkii; three newly discovered Metynnis, Myleus spp.; piranhas, Serrasalmus spp; Eye-spot cichlids, Heros cf severus; large Suckermouth catfish, Pterygoplichthys spp and Hypostomus spp; as well as Golden whip-tail catfish, Sturisoma aureum.
Aquatic plants: There are no aquatic plants in this habitat. In quiet bays you sometimes come across water lilies, Nymphaea; Bladderwort, Utricularia; and floating plants such as Pistia stratiotes and Salvinia natans. Along the riverbank are occasionally large Sword plants, such as Echinodorus grandifolius.
Commentary: I was able to show that there are seven different stingray species in Rio Xingú, but am convinced that there are still more, most of them, no doubt, still unidentified.
There are no water plants. As mentioned before, only during the high water period can one find floating plants and grass.
Large groups of Disk tetras, Myleus, are found (as shown here), but also Metynnis species. Occasionally there are large armoured catfishes and eartheaters, though the latter are not included here.
These occur mostly over sandy, often rocky beds in Rio Xingú.
In contradiction to the often widespread opinion that stingrays require giant aquariums, I must - based on my own extensive experience - disagree.
Bleher's biotopes blog
Matt Clarke asks whether it is really sensible to mix piranhas and other fish in a home aquarium.
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Of course these magnificent fishes must be given sufficient space and fine sand as substrate.
Sand is absolutely essential for the food search by freshwater stingrays.
These nocturnal rays tend to bury themselves in the sand during the day, with often only the eyes protruding above the sand, in order to rid themselves of parasites and to seek protection from piranhas that often stray through their territory during the day.
Water parameters: Recorded values were pH 6.25-6.55; conductivity 21-22 µS/cm; day temperatures, air 36.5C/97.7F, water surface 28.5°C/83ºF, and at a depth of 2 m/6’ 6” 27.9°C/82.2ºF – this is where most of the fishes shown here live.
Materials: (The following companies contributed to the set-up).
Tetra: Filter material and water purifier.
Kölle-Zoo, Stuttgart: Tank decorations by way of mangrove roots, fine-grained white sand (.1-.9 mm and 6-carat powder-fine), large round stones and red slate.
Aquarium Dietzenbach: All fishes.
Tropica, Denmark: Plants.
Project development and installation: Aquapress, Heiko Bleher, Italy.
Sponsor: Tetra
This article was first published in the April 2007 issue of Practical Fishkeeping magazine. Photography by Heiko Bleher.
Heiko Bleher 547 (words, 9153 hits)Published online: 01.31.08
"See http://www.practicalfishkeep... for a full discussion of this article, including some comments from Heiko himself.
"
Date: Friday February 8th, 2008, 12:12 pm
"Matt - the link provided only takes us to the Site Map. Can you try to re-post the link?
Thanks!"
Date: Wednesday February 27th, 2008, 5:04 pm
"The Xingu and the species in it are, by and large, scheduled for destruction. A gigantic hydropower plant is right now under construction in the Xingu at Altamira, and more will follow. The dams will drown a vast area upstream, and the river downstream will periodically dry out. As Xingu is a well-known biodiversity hotspot with a comparable number of fish species to the entire continent of Europe, it is likely that a number of fish species will be extinguished. No one knows how many, or which species, as Brazil has elected not to investigate the issue in their environmental impact study.
Among the species most at risk are the iconic catfishes Hypancistrus zebra and Baryancistrus sp. "Gold Nugget L-018". Bleher's Xingu biotope is disappearing even as you read this.
As enormous as the impact of these dams will be, it is only a minor part of a gigantic plan to clear and develop about 1/3rd of the Amazon.
Basically this is likely to be the greatest single extinction event, and arguably the greatest single environmental disaster, in human history.
Amazingly this scheme has received almost no attention outside Brazil, but you can find more info here:
http://www.planetcatfish.com...
"
Date: Sunday March 9th, 2008, 8:28 pm
""I was able to show that there are seven different stingray species in Rio Xingú, but am convinced that there are still more, most of them, no doubt, still unidentified."
i would love him to qualify this statment considering that there are only about that number of recognised species in total and that until there is a massive survey undertaken at a genetic level that no species of stingray should be considered as a definitive name.
As captive breeding has shown that every so called species can hybridize with any other species of potamotrygon i would like to summerise that the other species he was referring to in the xingu are in all probability wild hybrids.
one such ray is the mantilla
a cross in captiviy between a p.motoro and a p.leopoldi produces a ray that looks the same as a wild mantilla.
there are in all probability a lot less distinct species of rays than we think there are at present."
Date: Thursday July 16th, 2009, 4:28 pm
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"As Matt's blog implies, this just would not work long term. The piranha will attack some of the tankmates sooner or later, and that many rays in a tank of those dimensions is a very, very bad idea. "
Posted by: James Watkins - 1 year, 9 months agoDate: Wednesday February 6th, 2008, 8:59 am